Tag Archives: Donruss Rookies and Stars 2009

College Football HoF, NFL

Collins, Kerry

Score 2009, #286
Donruss Rookies and Stars 2009, #96

CARDS: Score 2009, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2009
ACQUIRED: TTM 2020, C/o Home
SENT: 6/6/20 RECEIVED: 6/18/20 (12 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Kerry Collins played QB at Penn State from 1991-’94.
  • Over his college career his stats increased across the board.
  • In his Senior campaign in 1994, he completed 176/264 passes for 2,679 yards, 21 TDs to 7 INT.
  • He’d be the first pick in the history of the Carolina Panthers franchise at #5 overall.
  • In a historic 1996 season, he led the Panthers to the NFC Championship in just the franchise’s second season.
  • During 1998, he struggled with alcoholism and considered quitting the game.
  • The franchise cut him and he finished the season on the roster of the New Orleans Saints.
  • Over 3 seasons with the Panthers, Kerry threw for 7,295 yards, 39 TDs, and 49 INT and completed 52.6% of his passes.
  • He briefly played for New Orleans, winning 2 games in 7 contests, while throwing just 4 TDs to 10 INT in 1998.
  •  In 1999, Kerry joined the Giants, and later in the season took over as starter, going 2-5 the rest of the way out.
  • Kerry led the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2000, as he finished the season 12-4 and threw for 3610 yards (311/529), 22 TDs, and just 13 INT.
  • He played for the Giants through the 2003 season after the team decided to go in another direction with Kurt Warner and Eli Manning waiting in the wings.
  • After two middling seasons as a starter in Oakland in 2004 and ’05, the journeyman phase of his career began- but not without controversy.
  • Collins signed with the Tennessee Titans, who secretly were not completely sold on Vince Young.
  • He and Vince traded starting duties for the team under HC Jeff Fisher through the 2010 season.
  • In 2008, he led the team to a 12-3 record completing 242 of 415 passes for 2676 yards and 12 TDs.
  • After the 2010 season, he announced his retirement.
  • Signed with the Colts in 2011, and became first quarterback to start for the Colts other than Peyton Manning since 1997 (Jim Harbaugh).
  • A concussion sustained in late October of that year, ended his season, and ultimately he decided to hang up his cleats.

ACCOLADES:

  • College Football Hall of Fame
  • Pro Bowl 1996, ’08
  • Davey O’Brien Award 1994
  • Sammy Baugh Trophy 1994
  • PFWA All-Rookie Team 1995

NOTES:

Kerry owns multiple passing records for both the Panthers and Giants franchises.

Kerry had some really nice cards near the end of his career and I adored all the stuff that came out in 2009 and 2010. Once I saw that he was signing it was a no-brainer to send these cards out and hope for the best.

Kerry’s struggle with alcoholism should not be understated. Although much of it went public, it allowed him to get the help he needed to address his problem, and he aggressively sought treatment in 2000 while with the Giants, and continued to do so over the next 3-4 years.

A talented baseball player, Kerry was selected by both the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays, but opted to play football instead.

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NFL

Jackson, Vincent (1983-2021)

Card: Donruss Rookies & Stars 2009
Acquired: COMC, 2020

Vincent Jackson’s pro career started back in 2005- when Drew Brees still played for the San Diego Chargers. A second round pick out of Northern Colorado, Jackson earned All-American honors as a punt returner and is the school’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, kick return yards, punt return yards, and receiving touchdowns. He grew slowly into the Chargers offense, but with maturation of Philip Rivers at quarterback, Vincent posted back to back 1,000 yard receiving seasons in 2008 and 2009- earning his first Pro Bowl trip in the latter year. After an injury shortened 2010, Vincent returned to form and the Pro Bowl in 2011.

A coveted free agent in 2012, Vincent opted to sign with the Buccaneers and continued his Pro Bowl form. He’d post career highs with 1,384 yards, a 19.2 yard average, and a 95 yard long (average and long catch led the NFL). Jackson posted 2 more 1,000+ yard seasons in both 2013 and 2014, wrapping up his career after the 2016 season.

A beautiful card here of Vincent Jackson from Donruss in the final year of the company before the label transitioned over to Panini. Gold Stars was a subset of cards I really liked and I loved the gold paint blotch where they affixed the autograph sticker to. A very nice touch. The two road stripes at the bottom pretty much gave us a roadmap per say into what the 2010 edition was going to look like.

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UPDATE: 2/15/21- Vincent’s family reported him as a missing person on 2/10 and a welfare check was performed at that time. He had been staying in a hotel in Tampa for the last few weeks, and was found today deceased by hotel staff.

NFL

Edwards, Trent

Cards: Playoff Prestige 2009, Score 2009, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2009
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 11/7   Received: 11/23   (16 days)

Trent Edwards played for the Stanford Cardinal from 2003-2006.  He’d post 5429 yards on 487 of 865 passing, for 36 TDs to 33 interceptions over his time there and be selected in the 3rd round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. He surprisingly started  for  9 games his rookie year for the Bills and threw for 1630 yards on 151 of 269 passing. While his TD to INT ratio (7 to 8) was troubling, all signs pointed to up for the young signal caller.  Against the Dolphins, he’d notch a career high 4 TDs in a 38-17 win.  

In 2008, Trent came out red hot as he won his first 5 of 6 overall, but a concussion that he suffered during a week 5 loss to the Cardinals was said to have contributed towards his long term struggles the rest of the year as the Bills lost the next 6 of 8 to finish 7-9 overall. After struggling through part of the 2009 season due to injuries, a porous offensive line, and inconsistency- it appeared that the Trent Edwards experiment was on its back 9.  

Although he opened 2010 as the starter for the Bills, Trent’s time with the team was short.  He’d be cut after the second game in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick. 

Claimed off of waivers by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Trent would back up David Garrard at quarterback. He’d see some playtime as an injury substitution, but lose both his games against the Titans, and later against the Houston Texans. After failing to catch on with the Oakland Raiders in 2011, Trent joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012 and completed 2 of 2 passes for 14 yards- but this would be the final NFL action he’d see in his career. He’d spend the next year or so bouncing on and off the rosters of the Bears and the Raiders (again) before finally deciding to hang up the cleats in 2014.

Trent has some really nice looking cards, and the Rookies and Stars and Score are some of my favorites to get signed. He has a solid autograph that really goes over nicely on these cards. I like the Playoff Prestige when lined up next to the Score card, as they are obviously from the same sequence of shots.

Trent is now involved with helping to make the game more high tech investing in and being a part of a firm that creates VR head set technology for quarterbacks to view their complete 360 surroundings. 

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